


Dark and Bright

by justlook3



Series: Butterfly AU [4]
Category: The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, F/M, Haunted Houses, Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-28
Updated: 2015-05-29
Packaged: 2018-04-01 16:47:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4027402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justlook3/pseuds/justlook3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a spooky house in the woods of Slovakia, Cassandra confronts a serial killer, Stone learns something he didn't know about his girlfriend and Baird is reminded that the LITs are her partners.  An established relationship retelling of "And the Heart of Darkness."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So much of this episode and what it meant for Cassandra is related to her canon betrayal. In this universe, Cassandra did not willingly betray the Library (though she still feels a bit of guilt that she allowed the Serpent Brotherhood to blackmail her instead of running straight to Baird) which made this episode all the more difficult. I hope you do enjoy what I managed to do. We pick up the action when Stone joins Jones in the dollhouse.

They'd been sent to Central Europe tracking a broken ley line and it lead them 19 hours out of Prague to the middle of pretty much nowhere.  And to a creepy old house and a young girl who'd been attacked along with her friends who appeared to have been killed.

The broken ley lines happened to actually run through the house and even though they'd anchored the lines, scary and strange things continued to happen.  Jenkins had surmised that they'd found a mystery house, one with evil intent and that they'd have to destroy the dark heart of the house, whatever that was.

Cassandra and Baird were at odds.  Baird, for whatever reason, had become suddenly very overprotective of the younger woman.  And Stone had fallen into the fallback position that had served him well as the brother of several sisters, he'd refused to get in the middle of what was going on between his girlfriend and their Guardian.  He knew that he'd pay for it later with Cassandra, but to be honest, he was too scared to care at this moment.  Right now, he'd be happy to sleep on the couch in the living room for a year as long as he knew that she was safe.

Jones had disappeared and Baird had told Cassandra to take Katie and the truck and get back to the safety of the Annex. Stone had wished he'd at least told Cassandra he loved her, but she'd been angry at Baird and probably angrier at him for not speaking out in her favor.  So he'd said nothing, just pled with her silently to go, save herself and Katie.  He took a deep breath and followed Baird up the stairs, hoping that he would get a chance to see Cassandra again.  The odds were not in their favor, not in this house, god knows what had happened to Jones.  All he could cling to was the thought that at least Cassandra would make it. 

They hadn't been upstairs very long when some odd noises came from downstairs.  Baird rushed to check it out but Stone had gotten distracted.  He could have sworn that dollhouse wasn't on the table when they walked into the room . . .

Suddenly he was somewhere else, somewhere where Jones was playing a video game?

"Yeah, it takes a second to process."

"This is the doll . . .we're in the doll house."

"See? Got it in one," Ezekiel continued playing his game.

"Why are we in the doll . . .how are we in the doll house?"

"Well, and this is just a guess, mind you, but I'm going to say magic."

Over the sounds of Ezekiel's game, Stone could have sworn he heard his name being called.

"That's Baird!" He started yelling her name, but got freaked out when her giant eye looked in the window. Of course, she couldn't see or hear him.

"I tried that before. She can't hear you.  Samosa?"

"No, I don't want a samosa," Stone started to storm away then got in Ezekiel's face. "What's wrong with you?  Baird is out there all alone with god knows what. At least Cassandra and Katie got away."

Ezekiel was going on about snacks while Stone tried the door.

"This house is trying to kill us."

"Pretty sure it's not.  Watch."  Ezekiel asked for a beer.  Stone rolled his eyes even as it appeared.

"What have you been doing this whole time? You've been playin' video games and drinkin'?"

"And samosas. Yeah. I got tired of staring at those damned pictures. And I said, I wish there was something better to do, and boom, Xbox One."

"What pictures? What do you mean pictures? What pictures?"

Ezekiel pointed behind him.  Stone stared at the artwork.  Some of it was really old and exciting. But as he looked, the story started to form in his mind. What the house was trying to tell him.  And if he'd been frightened before, he was terrified now.  He felt like he was going to throw up.

"We got this wrong.  We got this whole thing wrong."

The tone of his voice and the terror in it got Ezekiel to take notice.  He paused his game and turned and looked.

"The house isn't out to get Katie . . .it's tryin' to protect us **from** Katie."

Ezekiel's eyes widened as he started to share in Stone's terror. "And you said . . ."

"Cassandra is out there **alone** with her.  All alone."

* * *

Cassandra ran screaming back into the house. She'd just found to her horror that Katie was the killer not the mysterious figure in the house.

"Colonel Baird! Colonel Baird! Stone! Oh God, Stone!" That's when she remembered in the confusion and fear of earlier that Stone hadn't come running when Baird called him. . . And he'd never not come when she called . . . .

"Jacob? Eve?"

The only sign of Baird was her gun, lying on the floor, Cassandra picked it up. Both Baird and Stone had given her shooting lessons though she hadn't been very good at it.  But at least, it was some protection.  She heard a thumping sound and went around the corner to see Baird being dragged up the stairs. She looked nearly lifeless . . . .

Cassandra went up the stairs, but she didn't see Baird. She did see a room full of spirits, the people that Katie and her family had killed.  Katie's voice drifted up the stairs, bragging about the people her family had killed.  About how the house spoke to her and she'd made a wish.

"So you talk huh? Sure wish you could talk to me."  And then Cassandra heard it, faint but it was there.  Asking for her help, asking her what it could do to help her free it from Katie.

And it gave her an idea . . . .

* * *

"Do you hear that?" Stone said after both he and Jones had tried again to get out of the dollhouse. Suddenly Jones wasn't that interested in his game anymore.  Just as Stone said that, the chair Jones had been in disappeared. In its place was a couch with an unconscious Baird on it.

"Damn," Ezekiel swore. "She looks pretty worked over."

Stone felt for a pulse. "She's alive. Probably knocked around real good." He sighed, "it's trying to help us. But . . . ."

He jumped up and yelled at the ceiling. "Please, you have to help Cassandra! Please!"

Jones looked over at him, "If Katie hasn't . . . ."

"Shut the hell up!" Stone's eyes were wild.

"I'm sorry," Jones backed away immediately. "I sometimes  . . .I say things I shouldn't. I like Cassandra, you know that."

Stone nodded. "You're scared too. I get it."

"Wait, do you hear that?" Jones asked, running to the window of the dollhouse.  They couldn't really see anything, but they could hear sounds, like a struggle.

"Cassandra . . . ."Stone breathed.

* * *

Cassandra and Katie struggled and Cassandra managed to stab Katie.  But as the redhead tried to run out of the room, the smoke man appeared pushing her back into the room.

Katie taunted her.  "You're so stupid. Don't you know what I wished for? Don't you know what this house has made me? "

"You're the dark heart." Cassandra whispered.

"I'm death!" Katie lunged at her, but Cassandra was able to dodge that time. "Poor Cassandra. Poor, whiny, pathetic you. Turns out they were right, Cassandra. You ain't good for nothin' in the end."

Katie managed to slice into Cassandra's arm and she fell to the floor with a shout of pain. 

"Please, please. Help me. We can stop this. Please help me stop this!"

"Lord. Why on Earth would I want to stop?"

"I wasn't talking to you."

"Oh, someone's tryin' to be clever."

* * *

"Do you think the house will help her?" Ezekiel whispered.

"Shhh," Stone shushed him, straining to hear and see what was going on.

"I wish to save my friends, the man that I love."

"Well, I wish to kill them.  And I was here first. Huh, man you love? Which one, the fire bug or the coward?  Don't matter. It's a shame, so much more fun to let the loved ones watch.  Tell ya what, I'll let him weep over ya for a minute before I stab him in the back."

There were some more screams coming from the room and Stone had never felt more helpless in his life. Not even when the cancer had taken his mother.

Cassandra's voice was suddenly very loud in the dollhouse. "You think you're death? I was fifteen when they told me that my death sits right here."

"Poor kid . . . ." whispered Ezekiel. Stone smacked him to silence him.

"So I see it every time I look in the mirror. Every day. Every single day."

"Stop this!" Katie's voice yelled. "You can't! I'm the angel! I'm the angel of death!"

"You're not the angel of death. I know what death looks like and she doesn't look like you. She looks like **me**."

Ezekiel looked over to the man beside him. Stone had tensed leaning against the window, a sound that sounded suspiciously like a sob coming out of him. For once, Jones couldn't bring himself to say anything witty, especially since he found himself biting his lip to force down his own tears.

Stone slapped the window. "C'mon house. Help her!"

"See I told you. I always get my wish."

Then things got eerily quiet both inside and outside the dollhouse.  Then suddenly an unearthly scream broke the silence.

Then Cassandra's voice, rough with terror and tears. "This isn't about wishes, Katie. It's about need.  And I really need . . ."


	2. Chapter 2

A few moments later, Ezekiel and Jacob were standing in the middle of the room outside the doll house. Cassandra was lying on the floor in front of them, the crate hammer lying on the floor beside her.  Katie was nowhere to be seen but the room looked brighter, cleaner.

Stone ran over to Cassandra, fearing the worse.  There was some blood on her ripped sleeve, but somehow the arm had been bandaged.   Her pulse was steady against his fingertips and he breathed a sigh of relief.  He knelt behind her, cradling her head on his lap.

"She just fainted.  Go look for Baird, the house must have put her somewhere else. I'll stay with Cassandra."

Ezekiel had gone and Cassandra began to stir.  Her eyes opened wide, looking around in fear. She became aware of fingers in her hair and when they moved over her forehead, she recognized the touch and relaxed slightly.

"Jacob?"

"Yeah, darlin'.  Welcome back."

"Katie?" Cassandra asked, struggling to sit up. 

"I think she's gone.  I don't know.  She screamed and then suddenly we were here."

"Where were you?  You vanished."

"With Jones in the dollhouse of all places.  Then Baird showed up, but she was knocked out.  By the time I figured out that Katie was the killer, I was trapped, the house was tryin' to help but it didn't understand . . . ."

"She . . ." Cassandra started to shake and Stone gathered her up in his arms. He realized that he was shaking a bit too. "She turned to dust and disappeared. I think I killed her."

"You saved us, that's what you did. I'm proud.  But, God, Cassie, we could hear you . . . .Never felt so helpless.  Never been so scared."

"Me neither."

 They clung to each other for a few more minutes until both had stopped shaking.  Then he helped her up.  Propped against the dollhouse was an envelope with Cassandra's name on it.  Curious she opened it to find a thank you note. She smiled.

"Can you give me a minute?"

He nodded. "Sure, I'm gonna go see if I can find Baird. She wasn't in the best shape and I sent Jones to find her. Can't imagine that's goin' well."

* * *

At this point, Stone was really wishing that he hadn't come down to find Jones.  At least Baird was conscious though obviously in a lot of pain.  Jones was going on about Star Trek and Doctor Who and begging to keep the house.  Stone was fighting off the biggest headache he'd had that day.

"Colonel Baird, Eve if I may.  I've never asked for anything in my life. Please, let me have this. It grants wishes, Eve."

"You know what I wish for right now?" Eve snapped, pointing to the black and blue mark on her eye. "I wish I had something for this **eye**."

That's when the black shadowy figure approached.  Stone got into defensive position and Baird tried to get up.

Cassandra's voice came from behind the figure. "The house doesn't grant wishes." She stood in front of the figure. "It helps people in need. It was built as a refuge. No one ever expected a serial killer to find it. It won't make the same mistake again."

"So, can we keep it?" Ezekiel asked, nothing ever phasing him.

Cassandra shook her head and the figure moved forward.  Stone jumped, fists raised and even Ezekiel moved.

"Easy now, boys."

Suddenly the figure morphed into a kindly looking butler who handed Baird an ice pack.  She took it with a smile of gratitude.

"Guys, meet the spirit of the House of Refuge."

"Jones, you're outvoted," said Baird, holding the ice to her face.

* * *

They'd planned to break the drive up into two days, especially with Baird's injuries.  Jenkins had called ahead and arranged rooms in a town about a 7 hour drive from their location.  About half way through that drive, Baird had asked if one of the boys would drive so that she could talk to Cassandra.  Stone had driven most of the day already so Ezekiel took the wheel like he'd wanted to in the first place.

Once the switch had been made and both men were pretending they weren't listening, Baird turned to Cassandra, keeping her voice low. "I need to apologize for today."

Cassandra nodded, but kept quiet.

"I know that we've had this conversation before and we'll probably keep having it.  Your nosebleed today freaked me out and I handled it poorly.   Instead of trying to protect you, I should have outright asked how you were feeling and if you could handle things."

Cassandra said softly, "in retrospect, I understand why you did it.  You're our Guardian and your first instinct is to protect us.  And I know I look fragile . . . ."

"But you're not. I understand that. You saved all of our lives today.  And I'm really grateful."

"I'm a little fragile, actually." Cassandra let out a soft little laugh. "I surprised myself by what I did. But the house helped and it helped keep all of you safe today.  I just don't like being told I can't do something. I had that happen with my parents . . .and . . .well anyway."

Baird nodded. "That I do understand, I think we have that in common you and me.  I'm sure you can tell that I don't like being told no either."

Cassandra chuckled and shook her head. "Never would have guessed."

"But it boils down to this, I'm not your commanding officer and I am not your mother.  But I am your Guardian. And at the end of the day, I'm responsible for all three of you. To make sure you're protected. We've already learned that we have to work together to keep all of us safe.  And I won't underestimate you, any of you again.  But it's a work in progress, just like your relationship with Stone, we have a relationship too that we need to work on.  So, I'll try very hard to never make you feel sidelined again and to communicate better with you why I'm asking you to do something and how you're feeling."

"And I'll try not to resent it when you make a choice I may not like for the good of the team." Cassandra nodded, "I think I can work with that. I know we come from very different backgrounds. And I know I haven't got a lot of experience working with people. So we call this a learning experience then?"

"Deal. And I promise not to let you wrangle any more blood soaked teenagers. We'll let Ezekiel deal with them from now on."

"Hey!" came from the front seat.

* * *

Cassandra opened her eyes in fear and Stone's arms were around her in a flash.  As soon as her heartbeat finally faded to normal, she realized she was safe in the hotel room.

"I gave up tryin' to sleep," Stone mumbled. "Kept havin' nightmares."

She nodded against his chest. "I guess we could read or watch tv or something. Though I don't think there's anything on in English."

"We should at least rest, it was a long day and we have another long one tomorrow."

Cassandra sighed and settled against him.  After a little bit, he spoke. "I'm sorry about today."

"What for?"

"Not takin' sides between you and Baird," Jacob's breath ruffled her hair. "I know you probably expected me to speak up for you.  I just . . .I have a lot of sisters . . . ."

"You have a lot of sisters?" Cassandra sounded confused.

"Four, Cassie.  And the way you survive in a house full of women is to never ever get caught in the middle. So today, I panicked and went with my default setting. To be honest, I was really scared and I wanted to know . . . ."

"Know what?"

"That if I died, you'd be safe.  Of course, Baird and I got everything so damn wrong. So that I apologize for too."

"You didn't . . .Jacob. . .I was fooled too. How were we to know?"

"There were clues but the House didn't know quite how to tell us.  Maybe it was for the best, you could talk to it."

"Only a little . . .I figured out it understood need.  I needed to save everyone, especially you.  I needed . . . . Well it was like you today."

"I was willing to risk anything, including you being angry with me, just to know you were safe."

"And I was willing to risk my life to make sure you were."

"I'm pretty sure that's what love is, Cassandra.  And I love you, more than anythin'."

"Me too. I love you so much.  It's alright.  Today was really about me and Baird.  And I think we got that straightened out. It was probably smart to stay out of it."

They fell into silence for several minutes.  Then Stone broke the silence with something that had been weighing on his mind.

"Honey?"

"Yeah?"

"Jones and I . . .when we were in the dollhouse. . .we could hear everythin' you and Katie were sayin'."

"Oh."

"Do you really see Death when you look in the mirror?"

Cassandra was quiet, but he could hear her sniffle.  He reached up and turned on the light above them.  She blinked in the sudden light, but he could see the tears tracking down her cheeks.

"Every day?"

She shook her head. "No, not every day. But a lot, Jacob, enough.  But I put on a smile and I go out and face the day.  Flynn and the Library gave me a purpose and it makes it easier."

A lot of things ran through Stone's head. How brave she was, how much he admired her.  But he cupped her chin in his hand.  When words failed him, he knew he could rely on someone else's.

"And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,  
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,  
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,  
But tell of days in goodness spent,  
A mind at peace with all below,  
A heart whose love is innocent! "

Cassandra smiled softly, "That's beautiful."

"That's Lord Bryon.  And that's what I see when I look at you.  Not Death.  Love.  That's who you are, Cassandra.  Everyone who's met you knows that.  And I'm a very lucky man to have your heart."

"Thank you."  That was the only thing she was able to say, as he'd rendered her nearly speechless.

He pulled her back into his chest and this time she was able to sleep.  Her dreams filled with a house in a rose garden, filled with light.

[end]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You might recognize the poem that Stone recites from "Rule of Three." In that episode he recites the opening stanza, this is the closing stanza.


End file.
